Kruger tells us in the preamble to his puzzle that sixteen clues contain a redundant word. The first letters of these give a well-known title which (ignoring the significance of apostrophes) describes how all answers are to be treated before entry. Word lengths refer to grid entries.
After last week’s celebration puzzle we are now into the fourth set of five hundred Inquisitor puzzles.
I had early success in the NW corner and deduced that the letter O had to be omitted from answers to have any hope of fitting entries together. Like a fool I then assumed that it simply the letter O to be omitted from every answer. I cold solved a few more clues where this mantra held good but I then ground to a complete halt for a while.
It was solving ANCHORETS at 11 across that clearly indicated that it was more than O to be omitted from some entries. CHORE seemed a likely omission to fit the letters I had in AN_S
A few of the redundant words became apparent and the penny drop moment came when I had VES as consecutive letters of the ‘well-known’ title along with BOUR slightly later. Taken with the missing Os and the likely CHORE the Shakespearean title LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST came to mind.
Even with that knowledge it was still hard work to fathom out all the remaining clues, especially the ones omitting more than just the Os. LIKELIHOOD at 9 down took a while to fall as it LOST both LOVES and LABOUR.
The redundant words were as follow:
| Clue | Word | Letter |
| 5a | LEFT |
L |
| 12a | ONE’S |
O |
| 19a | VARIOUS |
V |
| 27a | EASTERN |
E |
| 30a | SHOPPERS |
S |
| 34a | LOCAL |
L |
| 35a | AVAILABLE |
A |
| 38a | BUSINESS |
B |
| 1d | OTHER |
O |
| 4d | UNORTHODOX |
U |
| 5d | REALLY |
R |
| 8d | SOUTH |
S |
| 23d | LITTLE |
L |
| 25d | OBSCURE |
O |
| 26d | SOLO |
S |
| 32d | TRAVELLING |
T |
Apart from the many Os that were omitted the other elements removed were CHORE (11a), SLOG (12 a), WANT (15a), EROS (27a), LIKE (9d), HANDS (25d), GRIND (26d) and AMOUR (28d).
I have little difficulty associating six of these eight words with either LOVE or LABOUR, but I initially struggled a bit with LIKE and WANT but I note that Thesaurus entries for each of LOVE, LIKE and WANT list ideas like covet, desire, long for etc
I had to think long and hard on the parsing a few of the answers. For SPOONBILL at 5 across I was focused for a long time on SPOIL or SPILL being defined by muck. It also took longer than it should have done to sort out URINOSCOPY at 35a.
I am mightily impressed by Kruger’s ability to fit all these treated entries into a symmetrical grid. I wonder how long it took to come up with a satisfactory fill?
The grid looked like this
The title FANCY WORKING AWAY is formed from three words defining ideas akin to LOVE, LABOUR and LOST
I found this a real challenge but worth it in the end. Thanks Kruger
| No |
Clue Amended Clue |
Word | Wordplay | Answer | Omission | Entry |
| Across | ||||||
| 1 | Conformists accept Washington’s to dispense with wigs (5) |
CONS (conformists) containing (accept) AX (American [Washington] spelling of AXE [dispense with]) C (AX) ONS |
CAXONS (kinds of wigs) | O | CAXNS | |
| 5 |
Bird muck left take note, in bottom of plough (7) Bird muck take note, in bottom of plough (7) |
left L |
(POO [faeces; muck] + NB [nota bene; take note]) contained in (in) SILL (bottom of a plough) S (POO NB) ILL |
SPOONBILL (bird) | OO | SPNBILL |
| 11 | More than one recluse stops entertaining alien (4) |
ANCHORS (stops) containing (entertaining) ET (extraterrestrial; alien) ANCHOR (ET) S |
ANCHORETS (variant spelling of ANCHORITES [recluses]) | CHORE | ANTS | |
| 12 |
It’s false economy spending first of one’s euros in foreign cruises. Gospel! (8 2 words) It’s false economy spending first of euros in foreign cruises. Gospel! (8 2 words) |
one’s O |
Anagram of (foreign) CRUISES GOSPEL excluding (spending) E (first letter of [first of] EUROS]) PUSSER’S LOGIC* |
PUSSER’S LOGIC (false economy) | SLOG | PUSSERIC |
| 13 | End to benevolence ignored by goddess enthralling extreme peasants (6) |
(CERES [Roman name for the Greek Demeter, goddess of agriculture and corn] excluding [ignored by] E [last letter of {end to} BENEVOLENCE]) containing (enthralling) OTT (over the top; extreme) C (OTT) ERS |
COTTERS (peasants occupying a cot or cottage for which they have to give labour) |
O | CTTERS | |
|
15
|
Thin rocks in smooth stone face would be mountain in some parts? (4)
|
Anagram of (rocks) THIN contained in (in) WALL (smooth stone face [mountaineering term]) WA (NTHI*) LL |
WANTHILL (mole hill from which some people make mountains)
|
WANT | HILL | |
|
16
|
Bleaching powder hurt ordinary nameless children (7)
|
Anagram of (hurt) (O [ordinary] and CHILDREN excluding [less] N [name]) CHLORIDE* |
CHLORIDE (bleaching powder) | O | CHLRIDE | |
| 17 | Tenniel loved displaying impression (5) |
NIELLO (hidden word in [displaying] TENNIEL LOVED) NIELLO |
NIELLO (method of ornamenting metal by engraving, and filling up the lines with a black compound; impression) |
O | NIELL | |
| 19 |
Wretched females not quite welcoming Jock’s various grandchildren (5) Wretched females not quite welcoming Jock’s grandchildren (5) |
various V |
WOMEN (females) excluding the final letter (not quite) N containing (welcoming) OES (Scottish word for grandchildren) W (OES) OME |
WOESOME (wretched) | O and O | WESME |
|
20
|
More faint lighter so erratic (8) |
Anagram of (erratic) LIGHTER SO GHOSTLIER* |
GHOSTLIER (more faint) | O | GHSTLIER | |
| 24 | He locates killer – one progressing without appeal (8) |
POISONER (killer) with the first I (one) moving forward (progressing) to create POSIONER and then containing (without [outside]) IT (sex appeal) POS (IT) IONER |
POSITIONER (one who locates) | O and O | PSITINER | |
| 27 |
Redevelopment of Cape or eastern sea area of interest to NASA (5) Redevelopment of Cape or sea area of interest to NASA (5) |
eastern E |
Anagram of (redevelopment of) CAPE OR SEA AEROSPACE* |
AEROSPACE (an area of interest to NASA) | EROS | APACE |
| 29 | Jots "Doctor has gout" before leaving (5) |
Anagram of (doctor) HAS GOUT excluding (leaving) A (before) OUGHTS* |
OUGHTS (variant spelling of AUGHTS [whits, jots]) | O | UGHTS | |
| 30 |
Island retail centre starts to offer shoppers realistic credit account (7) Island retail centre starts to offer realistic credit account (7) |
shoppers S |
MALL (retail centre) + OR (first letters of each of [starts to] OFFER and REALISTIC) + CA (C/A; credit account) MALL O R CA |
MALLORCA (largest island in the Balearics) | O | MALLRCA |
| 33 | Car maker’s gadget rejected for acceleration (4) |
TOY (gadget) + TO (for) reversed (rejected) + A (acceleration) TOY OT< A |
TOYOTA (car maker) | O and O | TYTA | |
| 34 |
Wearied by fighting Reich at the front. Nearly half of local workers faint outside (6) Wearied by fighting Reich at the front. Nearly half of workers faint outside (6) |
local L |
WAN (faint) containing (outside) R (first letter of [at the front] REICH + WOR (first 3 letters of 7 [nearly half] in WORKERS) WA (R WOR) N |
WAR-WORN (wearied by fighting) | O | WARWRN |
| 35 |
Losing last vestige of available credit, Italian city’s so preposterous to emulate medical technique (8) Losing last vestige of credit, Italian city’s so preposterous to emulate medical technique (8) |
available A |
TURIN (Italian city) excluding (losing) T (final letter of [last vestige of] CREDIT) + an anagram of (preposterous) SO + COPY (emulate) URIN OS* COPY |
URINOSCOPY (diagnostic examination of urine; medical technique) | O and O | URINSCPY |
| 36 | Absent paragon came into view (4) |
A (absent) + ROSE (paragon) A ROSE |
AROSE (came into view) |
O | ARSE | |
|
37
|
Where cheap goods are sold, seven companions of footballers move smartly (7) |
S ( medieval Roman numeral for 7) + WAGS (wives and girlfriends; companions of footballers) + HOP (move smartly) S WAGS HOP |
SWAGSHOP (place where cheap and trashy goods are sold)
|
O | SWAGSHP | |
| 38 |
You are one business person who reclaims nothing for Austria (5) You are one person who reclaims nothing for Austria (5) |
business B |
SALVER (a person who salvages or reclaims) with O (nothing) replacing (for) A (International Vehicle Registration for Austria) SOLVER |
SOLVER (descriptive of you SOLVing the puzzle)
|
O | SLVER |
| Down | ||||||
| 1 |
Dalmatian butcher had other company aboard former merchant ship (6) Dalmatian butcher had company aboard former merchant ship (6) |
other O |
Anagram of (butcher) (HAD and CO [company]) contained in (aboard) COG (formerly, a large merchant ship or warship) CO (ACHDO*) G |
COACHDOG (as potted dog; dalmatian) | O and O | CACHDG |
|
2
|
Church music soon repelled grave husband paying a visit (7)
|
(PIT [grave, especially one for many bodies] reversed [repelled] + H [husband]) contained in (paying a visit) ANON (soon) AN (TIP< H) ON |
ANTIPHON (a type of church music sung by two parties each responding to the other) |
O | ANTIPHN | |
| 3 | Native reflected on top quality mineral (7) |
SON (native) reversed (reflected) + ELITE (best of anything; top quality) NOS< ELITE |
NOSELITE (cubic mineral, aluminium sodium silicate and sulphate) |
O | NSELITE | |
| 4 |
Person embracing unorthodox priest’s a good fellow (4) Person embracing priest’s a good fellow (4) |
unorthodox U |
SORT (person) containing (embracing) P (priest) S (P) ORT |
SPORT (good chap) | O | SPRT |
| 6 |
Engineer really lost hope (it’s needed when erecting fences) (6, 2 words) Engineer lost hope (it’s needed when erecting fences) (6, 2 words) |
really R |
Anagram of (engineer) LOST HOPE POST HOLE* |
POST HOLE (HOLE sunk in the ground to take a fence post) |
O and O | PSTHLE |
|
7
|
Flour oddly eaten by insect once (5)
|
FOR (letters 1, 3 and 5 [oddly] of FLOUR) contained in (eaten by) BEE (insect) BE (FOR) E |
BEFORE (at a former time; once) | O | BEFRE | |
| 8 |
Imagines original tip off catching retired South island bishop in acts of laughter (8) Imagines original tip off catching retired island bishop in acts of laughter (8) |
South S |
VISIONS (imagines) excluding (off) the first letter (original tip) V containing (catching) (I [island] + RR [Right Reverend; bishop] ) reversed (retired) I (RR I)< SIONS |
IRRISIONS (acts of laughing at others) | O | IRRISINS |
| 9 | Ruin (i.e. kill) old naval commander’s chances (4) |
Anagram of (ruin) I.E. KILL + HOOD (reference Admiral Samuel HOOD [1724 – 1816]; naval commander) LIKELI* HOOD |
LIKELIHOOD (probability; chances) | LIKE and OO | LIHD | |
| 10 | Went after back pass over plant (6) |
COL (pass) reversed [back] + O {over in cricket] + WEED [went [to the loo]) LOC< O WEED |
LOCOWEED (leguminous plant) | O and O | LCWEED | |
| 14 | Court latest to reveal value of old store (6) |
WOO (court) + L (last letter of [latest to] REVEAL) + WORTH (value) WOO L WORTH |
WOOLWORTH (name of owner [F W WOOLWORTH] of widely known high street store [WOOLWORTHS] |
OO and O | WLWRTH | |
|
17
|
Homesickness affected Stan and Gloria right away (8)
|
Anagram of (affected) STAN and GLORIA excluding (away) R (right) NOSTALGIA* |
NOSTALGIA (homesickness) | O | NSTALGIA | |
| 18 | They run away from foremost of scares about rod being brought back (6) |
(S [first letter of {foremost of} SCARES] + RE [with reference to; about] + POLE [rod]) all reversed (being brought back) (ELOP ER S)< |
ELOPERS (people who run away secretly, often to get married) | O | ELPERS | |
| 21 | Reportedly misprint "shore" (7) |
LITTORAL (sounds like [reportedly] LITERAL [misprint of a letter in word [printing terminology]) LITTORAL |
LITTORAL (shore or coastal strip of land) |
O | LITTRAL | |
| 22 | Portion contains mostly added sugar (7) |
DOSE (portion) containing (contains) EXTRA (added) excluding the final letter (mostly) A D (EXTR) OSE |
DEXTROSE (naturally occurring sugar) |
O |
DEXTRSE |
|
| 23 |
Like a limb from a little mouser – supple (6) Like a limb from a mouser – supple (6) |
little L |
Anagram of (supple) A MOUSER RAMEOUS* |
RAMEOUS (descriptive of a branch; like a limb) | O | RAMEUS |
| 25 |
Some upset American children twice surrounding obscure group with no bass (6) Some upset American children twice surrounding group with no bass (6) |
obscure O |
(US [United States; American] reversed [upset; down clue] + CH [children] + US [United States; American] reversed [upset; down clue] + CH [children] – i.e. twice) containing (surrounding) BAND (group) excluding (with no) B (bass) SU< CH (AND) SU< CH |
SUCH-AND-SUCH (some) | HANDS | SUCUCH |
| 26 |
Instrumentalist’s not special to performance of grand or solo singer (6) Instrumentalist’s not special to performance of grand or singer (6) |
solo S |
Anagram of (performance of) GRAND OR SINGER excluding (not … to) S (special) ORGAN-GRINDER* |
ORGAN-GRINDER (example of an instrumentalist) | O and GRIND | RGANER |
| 28 | Crying out about delay installing United’s manager. Moderation lacking (5) |
(C [circa; about] + LAG [delay]) containing (installing) (MOURINHO [reference Jose MOURINHO, current Manager of Manchester United Football Club] excluding [lacking] HO [moderation]) C LA (MOURIN) G |
CLAMOURING (crying out) | AMOUR | CLING | |
|
31
|
Not beginning to limit scope of missile (4)
|
|
NARROW (limit scope) excluding the first letter (not beginning) N ARROW |
ARROW (missile) | O | ARRW |
| 32 |
Nosy travelling Asian contrarily covering up rumour (4) Nosy travelling Asian contrarily covering up rumour (4) |
travelling T |
SAY-SO (hidden word [covering up] reversed [contrarily] in NOSY ASIAN) SAY-SO< |
SAY-SO (rumour) | O | SAYS |
The usual thanks to duncanshiell and Kruger – but I must confess to not finishing this one. The easy insight, that many words needed to be entered with Os removed, got me a surprisingly long way, and when I spotted the LOVEs in the hitherto intractable AEROSPACE and CLAMOURING, that led straight to LOVES LABOURS LOST and optimism about finishing. Even worked out a couple of the LABOURS, but bogged down on my last four or five clues, all in the top half of the grid.
Longest futile distraction: trying to parse 24A as PSYCHO-something to yield CHORE or CHORES. But failed to see ANCHORETS. Oh dear.
I guessed Loves Labours Lost reasonably quickly – and then the penny slowly dropped that the real labour was still to come. It took me ages to see that, as well as the letter o, synonyms for love would also need to be discovered then dismissed. But understanding the work, and being able to do it, were two different things. The top half of the grid I found especially intractable.
Thanks to Kruger, and to duncanshiell for much-needed light.
Another DNF to report, which must be pretty rare after quickly guessing the thematic title from the introduction! How many well-known titles can there be comprising 16 letters with more than one apostrophe? The trouble was that, like David and Neil above, we had spent a long time solving the very tough clues before realising that there was more to it (although it should have been obvious) than omitting Os. We gave up with about half a dozen clues unsolved as it was becoming too much of a chore, not helped by the almost complete lack of real words in the grid entries.
This was certainly a far tougher puzzle than the Listener that week. I don’t remember any particular hold-ups but I took quite along time to complete it. Spotting the play early on was a great help. The trickiest answers to get from letters in the grid were those with whole words removed. Of these, 11a, 25d and 26 were among my last solves. ‘Pusser’s logic’ was completely new to me. It’s always good to encounter one or two unfamiliar words in tough cryptics.
The clues were a pretty good set, tricky but fair, with some well-disguised definitions, but a decent sprinkling of anagrams to help. Just as a minor observation I did wonder why the last clue appeared to have two reversal indicators; it works perfectly well without ‘contrarily’ since ‘covering’ is enough on its own to indicate a hidden answer.
The preamble very fairly drew attention to the intrusive apostrophes, and some might have complained had it not been there, but I think the gimmick works without that caveat, since it’s easy to interpret the title for cryptic purposes as ‘LOVE is, LABOUR is LOST.
I agree with Duncan’s praise of the grid. It must ave taken a long time to compile.
I managed about 3/4 of this, mostly the top-left corner remaining unsolved. I guessed Love’s Labour’s Lost but there were too many difficult clues to obscure words, especially the ones where the length differed significantly from the letter count given. I enjoyed what I could manage but in the end it became too much for me. Congratulations to anyone who managed to solve this completely.
Thanks to Duncan and Kruger.
Please excuse the typo in my last sentence above.
Like others, I spotted the O-cutting fairly soon on … not unlike Chalicea’s recent tour-de-force when her Edward-Lear-themed Listener was TOTALLY devoid of Os, not only in every grid entry, but also in the title, complete preamble, and every clue !!!
Love’s Labours Lost suggested itself via the EROS in AEROSPACE …I was pleased to tap into a distant memory and get [WANT]HILL , but am not totally persuaded that WANT is actually a valid equivalent for LOVE … I can’t find the words cross-referencing in my Chambers. Then finally, I then spent three days, on and off, wrestling with permutations for 12a, before finally lighting on the unknown-to-me PUSSER’S LOGIC, with an audible sigh of relief.
I also got POSITIONER without understanding why … I was working on the principle of the wartime observer who tries to locate hostile gun emplacements, e.g a FIRE POSITIONER, with FIRE = LOVE, so am grateful to duncanshiell for elucidating this.
Another Hard IQ ! Baie Dankie, Oom Paul.
A very belated response to the above (probably too late for anyone to read) – I’ve been incommunicado for a while.
My thanks to HI(hoba) whom I had the pleasure to meet on 22nd July in Manchester and to other contributors.
Murray @7 : You’ll have to teach me Afrikaans sometime!